The Augmentations
by CJ-T-Bone
Summary: The SPARTAN-II conscription and augmentation procedure from the eyes of our favorite SPARTAN.


_This was something I thought of whilst writing another of my stories. What must it have been like to have been a part of the SPARTAN-II program. I read a bit on the wiki page and was disgusted by the things they put the children through. So i took that information made it a bit less gory and wrote it here from Master Chiefs point of view. It is rated T for a reason. Forgive spelling and grammar errors, I am only human. _

_Keep in mind this is not a hundred percent accurate and I know there are some holes in the story, but keep in mind that it is just a story._

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When I was 6, I was abducted by the UNSC. They replaced my body with a flash clone that died a few years later to cover up my abduction. According to some reports that I hacked, my family and, few, friends were suspicious of my clone. I never did learn what became of him or my family because I was caught trying to hack UNSC systems again and they kept a better eye on me from that day on.

I was taken to a planet called Reach, on the ship towards the planet I was introduced to other children that were taken from their homes. Every single one of us had one thing in common, we weren't scared. In hindsight, this was probably a bad thing but on the day it seemed like a good idea. Show no fear and be as defiant as possible with the people that took us.

The next eight years were hell.

We were trained in advanced military tactics, physical and physiological training and our bodies conditioned to the point where some of us died from the ruthlessness of chief Mendez's training. I probably would have given up at one point were it not for Kelly and Sam.

Kelly being one of the more resilient and energetic woman that were conscripted, and Sam being something of a tank among tanks. Both were almost a full head taller than me when we were 7. During this time Kelly dyed her hair blue to annoy our caretakers. For her trouble her head was shaved. She said it was worth it.

Sam played several, dangerous, pranks on our caretakers, sending one of them to the infirmary for a couple of days; he was severely punished for this. He also said it was worth it.

During these times, unfortunately, I accepted a reality that they would only later see. It was hopeless. We were stuck on this planet and they were going to kill us.

Kelly and Sam argued that others have escaped and that we could too. It was true that others escaped but they were brought back a few days later, either dead or severely injured.

Only when we were eight did they tell us why we were here and what they were planning. We were selected to be SPARTANS. It was also at this age that we were broken up into groups for training. I ended up on a team with Kelly, Sam, Fred, Joshua and three others. We were Sabre Squad and I was made the leader. No-one on the team was that surprised.

Apparently Chief Mendez, Halsey and the other SPARTAN conscripts saw something in me that I did not.

We were dropped into a dense snowy wasteland and our orders were to escape and leave behind anyone that was not worth saving, such as the injured or sick.

I refused to that but never said it out loud to the trainers. Instead, on our way to the drop off location, I called all the SPARTANS together. Not just my squad, everyone. I told them that I refused to leave anyone behind, and I said this with enough conviction to get everyone to agree with me.

And so after our mission we received great physical punishment for disobeying our orders. No-one blamed me. Since that day the SPARTANS always looked to me for guidance and leadership even though Kurt was the actual leader of us. During training exercises he often came to me to hear my opinions till I told him that he didn't need me to be a great leader. And a great leader he was.

Then we turned fourteen... I almost don't even want to talk about it...

But I will.

When we were fourteen we underwent an augmentation procedure. To this day I cannot remember the procedure without closing my eyes and crying. I can promise you that there was never a more painful thing you could possibly experience. And if you had any doubts about this, I will tell you what they did.

First was bone enhancements. I didn't understand the science behind what they did but to actually get our bones stronger the first thing they did was cut us open... you read that correctly. Along the paths of our bodies where bone was closest to the surface they cut us open to apply the augmentation. On top of that we had to be awake while they did it. So they would know whether or not they cut a nerve ending that led to the rest of our bodies. I remember the screams as clear as day, I remember some of them, such as Kelly, calling to me for help, I remember staring at the two way mirror as her body was cut to pieces and then sown back up. I remember when it was my turn, how I refused to scream, how I punched one of the doctors in the face, how they strapped me back to the table.

We suffered 10 causalities.

Second were the muscle enhancements. We were injected with a high protein substance that increased the density of our muscles. We had to be awake because during sleep, humans release a hormone that counters the chemical. It felt like we were being lit on fire then left to burn for two hours.

6 of us died from heart attacks. I would remind you that we were fourteen years old.

Third was a growth hormone to promote the previous effects to grow with us. Kelly and pretty much all the other female SPARTANS hated this more than any other of the augmentations because it took something away from them that was never meant to be taken away from a woman. The ability to bear children.

The day this augmentation was due, Sam, I and several other of the male conscripts used our newly acquired strength to protect the girls as much as possible. Our efforts were in vain, we were subdued with tasers and the girls taken to the laboratories.

Kelly cried for 7 days straight and 3 of the girls died from trauma. It was harder on the girls than on the men, all we did was get more aggressive and not only form the augmentations. Kelly often told me how much she wanted a child as did many of the other woman, it made me grind my teeth and made Sam play one of his more destructive 'pranks'. High yield explosives that killed 26 of the doctors who performed the procedure. None of the men among the SPARTANS felt any guilt for helping him.

Fourth was probably the tamest of the augmentations. We were finally given some anesthetics and allowed to sleep while the doctors removed our eyeballs implanted something to increase blood flow and effectiveness of our eyes. Then our eyes were placed back into the sockets.

4 of us ended up blind.

And lastly, probably the most evil of the augmentations, the neural lace. Again we were kept awake so the doctors could make sure that we weren't dead, though I am not sure how much they cared. The cut along our spinal columns and implanted something to increase the speed of our reflexes. We were at the point where some of us didn't even register the pain.

14 casualties and 8 were permanently disabled.

While recovering, from what we were told was the last of the augmentations, Kelly and Sam finally saw the truth. We were going to die, most of us had already died... this was the day I died. I felt nothing for the UNSC, I felt nothing for ONI, I felt nothing for the doctors who operated on us, nothing but pure hatred.

The only feelings I had was a love for the only people who knew my pain; my fellow SPARTANS, Doctor Halsey and Chief Mendez.

And on this day I promised myself that I would be damned if I died for nothing, so I decided that I would be their SPARTAN, I would be their leader, I would make sure to win this war before they ever tried anything like this ever again.

My name is John. I am Master Chief, SPARTAN-117 and this was how I became who I am.

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_Please review and let me know what you think, no flames, constructive criticism always welcome._


End file.
